Ive got the error “The specified I/O operation on \Device\Harddisk\DR0 was not completed before the time-out period expired.” when I plug in my external USB hard drive.

This error can be caused by the following:

Bad USB Port on Your Computer

Your computer may have a defective USB port. I’ve seen many people get this error when using their device either on their front USB port or on a USB Hub with many other USB devices. Simply try plugging in the drive into another USB port (preferably on the back side of your computer not the front) and see if that works.

You can also try plugging the hard drive (or whatever other device you’re having the problem with) into another computer.

Bad Enclosure on the Drive

If your problem is with an external hard drive then you may be the victim of a faulty enclosure (the case that houses the hard drive). In this case you need to either take the drive out and move it to another USB enclosure or make it a secondary internal drive in your computer.

Bad Operating System

Your error may be caused by a corrupted Operating System. The best way to find out if this is the case is to connect the drive to another computer. If it works then you know that it’s a problem with your computer, if it doesn’t then it’s a problem with the drive.

Bad Sectors on the Drive

And finally it could be bad sectors on the drive. To find out use a tool such as HD Tune to scan your hard drive (use the Full option). If you do find bad sectors you will usually need to use a Data Recovery tool to get your data back. After your data is safe try to replace the drive if it’s under warranty or throw it out if it’s not.

I had my phone charging on one of the front USB ports and was getting this error when plugging in my external WD HD. (Of course I was freaking out that perhaps my 320 GB of music was gone!) Reading this made me consider unplugging the phone and now it works great. So, another option worth considering… is anything else plugged in?